50 Invisible Reasons Someone Needs Accessible Parking

It’s Christmas time, which means colourful lights, peppermint, and baked goods. Unfortunately it also brings out the worst of humanity as we all flock to shopping malls and factory outlets. One of those people that I am going to address today is the disability police. Random people with no authority or insight deciding that just because they can’t immediately see the reason someone has a parking pass, that they must not need it or deserve it. So here I am going to list fifty reasons why someone will have a pass, but are invisible to see to the average bystander. Just because the symbol is someone in a wheelchair doesn’t mean that’s the only reason to park there.

A Westminster mother and her 10-year-old daughter found a note on their van that called them “lazy” and idiotic for parking in a disability spot. The typed-out note was placed on the van windshield after they parked at Target off Church Ranch Boulevard Friday afternoon. “I thought it was a flyer,” Naomi Barringer said. The small, white piece of paper wasn’t an advertisement, rather a note shaming the mother and daughter. “It says, ‘Greetings. I observed you parking in this handicap parking place today. It appears that you are not really handicap. Perhaps just in a hurry or worse, just plain lazy,'” said Naomi as she read from the note. Kaitlyn, 10, said she’s not lazy but is in pain often and needs the disability placard. “I was offended, I was hurt actually. I really didn’t know people thought of me like that,” she said. Kaitlyn has a rare genetic disorder called hypophosphatasia that leaves her bones weak and brittle. She was born with 13 bone fractures and has had dozens more since then. “I am disabled and they may not know that and I can understand that because I do look normal but I don’t think they have to do that,” she said. The three paragraph note continued with: “In case you don’t know, these spots are reserved for people who are truly handicapped and because of idiots like you, they have to park farther away or not be able to come here at all.”

Lower limb prosthetic – if they’re wearing pants and have learned to walk without a limp, you would never know

Osteomyelitis – pain caused by bone infection

General chronic pain – could happen as result from a trauma or injury and then persist

Hip replacement – especially immediately after the operation

Scleroderma – build ups of collagen in the muscles leads to stiffness and decreased movement

Organ transplant – as the body copes with the new addition, limited movement and difficulty breathing can happen

Partial recovery from trauma – a person who was severely injured may have progressed from a wheelchair, to crutches, to walking alone, but it still causes pain

This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the reasons why someone applied for and received a parking pass for accessible parking. The point is that I could put together this list of 50 conditions that make walking to a store or carrying shopping impossible. All of these conditions are completely invisible to the casual observer or at least require a closer look to realize. If I can come up with all of these based on my own experience and a bit of Googling, then your ignorance and ill-directed rage is completely unnecessary.

Just researching for this article has really angered me. So many cases of disabled people being harassed and having their property vandalized because they don’t look disabled enough. People are so ready to dole out insults and cruelty than to stop and think that they can no way understand everything that is going on in someone else’s life. You can’t look at a person for two minutes as they walk into a store and be able to diagnose them of any medical issue.

I also do realize that a lot of people illegally use these parking spots without a permit, and I don’t condone that either. But there is a way to handle this that doesn’t involve childish name calling. If you see a car parked in a accessible parking without a parking permit, record their license plate number, take a photo of the car, and report them to the authorities. Receiving a fine, demerits on their record, or suspension of their license will send a much more effective message then a condescending note anyways. But if they have a province/state issued permit, then their disabilities are absolutely none of your business.